Sherlock Holmes's War of the Worlds [Mass Market Paperback]

Wade Wellman (Author), Manly W. Wellman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1975 | Series: Warner science fantasy

Now at last! The Story H. G. Wells never told-the dramatic role of Detective Holmes in the Martian Invasion of the Earth.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Warner Books; 1st edition (1975)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446769827
• ISBN-13: 978-0446769822
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,504,522 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sherlock Holmes's War of the Worlds, June 7, 2001

By 

patrick reumann (huntsville, Al. United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sherlock Holmes's War of the Worlds (Mass Market Paperback)

Manly W. Wellman, author of the wonderful Silver John Novels and his son Wade Wellmann have written a really fun book. Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes comes across a mysterious crystal egg from the H. G. Wells short story "The Crystal Egg". He takes it to Doyle's other famous character, Professor George Challenger, best known in the novel "the lost world". The two discover that earth is about to be visited by the Martians from Wells's War of the World. The Novel follows both Holmes and Challenger as they fight to survive and even captured a Martian. There are lot of guests from the Sherlock Holmes stories including Victor Trevor,from "The Gloria Scott", and the book even continue a plot from " The Adventure of the Empty House." Parts of the Book are written by Watson and parts by Edward Malone. The only thing I did not like was the authors have Holmes having a relationship with Mrs Hudson, his Housekeeper. Over all the book is great fun and a must read for fan of both Doyle and Wells' books.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Great idea, poorly realised, June 20, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Sherlock Holmes's War of the Worlds (Mass Market Paperback)

As a Holmes fan of long standing who enjoys a good pastiche I had high hopes for this hard to find book (and BTW what's with this USEW thing Amazon have going on? The book is called 'Sherlock Holmes' War of the Worlds'). And while there is certainly a flavour of H.G. Wells here there's very little of Sherlock Holmes.

Drawing from Wells' novel 'War of the Worlds' and the short story 'The Crystal Egg' the Wellmans have reworked five of their previously published short stories into a loosely constructed novel. The premise is intriguing - what if Sherlock Holmes and Conan Doyle's other great adventurer Professor Challenger were in London during the Martian invasion? But the fact is that do a lot of theorising, much speculating, a bit of running back and forth avoiding capture...and that's all. They spend almost the whole book away from the main action. For instance the heroes visit the scene of the first cylinder landing and the first deaths from the heat ray, then they move on without actually doing anything constructive. And this was my problem with the whole book. The heroes don't really DO anything that significantly alters events.

It's a tricky proposition given that the invaders were eventually destroyed by bacteria, not human intervention. It means that Holmes and Challenger can only suggest what might happen (eg the Martians are coming, they might be susceptible to bacteria) then congratulate themselves for being correct. Heroes, and certainly Holmes and Challenger, should being active and propel events along. Certainly the Holmes of Conan Doyle does. The versions in this story, however, do nothing but think and talk. It was frustrating to be constantly reading, willing them to DO something constructive.

Holmes' affair with Mrs Hudson is of course ludicrous to any Sherlockian and adds only a pointless romance and a reason for Holmes to see her safely out of London thus AGAIN taking him away from the action to a place where he merely receives reports of what the Martians are doing back in London. It's poor plotting and a waste of a great characters and a great idea.

For some genuinely fun and exciting Holmes pastiches in a similar vein read Loren Estleman's wonderful 'Sherlock Holmes vs Dracula' and 'Doctor Jekyll and Mr Holmes'. Particularly in the Dracula novel Estleman (a terrific writer across several genres) really solves the problem of having Holmes offstage from the main Stroker narrative yet furiously working behind the scenes to solve the case. I only wish the Wellmans had been equally creative.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Oh, Pullllleeeezze!, July 3, 2005

By 

Confederate (Bethesda, MD) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sherlock Holmes's War of the Worlds (Mass Market Paperback)

This is a very imaginative book despite what other readers have said. Sure they ran for their lives and talked about what was going on. That they couldn't do much isn't surprising--this is Sherlock Holmes' War of the Worlds, not Superman's War of the Worlds. What is one to expect? "Bend down behind it, Watson, and Challenger and I will push it over!"

In my opinion an enjoyable book is one that causes me to turn the pages until there are no more to turn. This book certainly meets that criteria for me.

I hope the movie prompts a reprint of this fine novel. I'd like to see more of Wellman's stuff back in print, especially his Silver John stories.